Check out this great new video from KCET and USC on Los Angeles funicular railways, featuring Angel's Flight and Mount Lowe!
Video
Pacific Electric Hollywood Car no. 739 emerges from the Hill Street Tunnel at 3:40 into this clip from 1949's noir "Criss Cross," starring Burt Lancaster and The Munsters' Yvonne DeCarlo.
The film features extensive use of locations throughout Bunker Hill. Suggested by PE fan David Thompson - thanks, David! - ed.
Broderick Crawford stars in this 1954 noir "Down Three Dark Streets," which includes action at Subway Terminal Building and Pacific Electric PCCs, including no. 5001.
From transit historian Ralph Cantos, who discovered the film on YouTube:
Pick up the action at 43:00 minutes. FBI agents follow female suspect on Hollywood Freeway to LA Civic Center, at Hill St. Both cars enter Pershing Square Garage. Woman goes up the Hill St escalator. Next seen, she is walking on Hill St. (Aactually it's Main St. - listen for LATL streetcar bells, and reflection of LATL Trolley bus in storefront windows.) Next seen, she enters SUBWAY TERMINAL BUILDING on Hill St. (notice MCL buses on street) and goes down ramp to boarding tracks. She goes aboard PE PCC at front door (number not visible), walks down the aisle, leaves car via center door, crosses the tracks and boards PE PCC #5001. Doors close, stop lights go out and you hear 2 toots of a Hollywood car whistle. (Actually, the PE PCCs had WESTINGHOUSE air horns that had a high pitched honk, rather the a toot as heard.) Action moves to Toluca Yard / Glendale Blvd. A few more beautiful shots of the PCC along Glendale Blvd. Ends at the Monte Sano stop. The condition of the PCCs are beautiful, they were not ready for retirement.
From our good friend Ralph Cantos comes this great clip, from the 1950 Rudolph Maté noir "Union Station" starring William Holden.
Take it away, Ralph:
It was shot on the PEs 6th and Main elevated in 1950 using two 950s for interior shots of what are supposed to be Chicago elevated cars; Location shots look to me to be in New York (3rd Ave El?) , but other shots aboard the moving cars ARE ON THE 6th and MAIN elevated.. Some nice gear noise, the interior of the 950s (as old as they were) were BEAUTIFUL.. And that is why they went to scrap...
Silent cinema legend Harold Lloyd commandeers a 200-class Pacific Electric streetcar (possibly 211?) and takes it through a variety of locations on the Western-Franklin Line in Hollywood in this sequence from 1924's "Girl Shy." Check out the comments on the YouTube page, as well, by clicking here.
From Ralph Cantos: The 200-class cars (200-299) were built between 1903 and 1909. They were used system-wide until the Hollywood cars came along in 1923, at which time the PE started selling them off, some to the movie studios. The last and best of the lot were retired in 1933.